This invention relates to feedtube protectors for the expanded feedtubes of food processors, and more particularly to such feedtube protectors which employ a captivated food pusher with a bottom surface enclosing one end of the food pusher. Such feedtube protectors are improved in accordance with the present invention by providing L-shaped clean-out and drain ports adjacent the cusp regions of the pair of crescent-shaped spaces between the inner circular tubular member and the oval-shaped food pusher thereby facilitating cleaning.
Food processors of the type to which the present invention is applicable have a working bowl with tool engaging drive means within the bowl on which various selected rotary food processing tools can be engaged to be driven by an electric drive for performing various food processing operations in accordance with the desires of the user. A detatchable cover is secured on top of the bowl during use which cover includes an expanded feedtube having a passage that opens downwardly through the cover into the top of the bowl. The food items to be processed are placed in this feedtube passage and then manually pushed down through the feedtube into the bowl by means of a removable food pusher which is slidable down through the feedtube in the manner of a plunger. For background information with respect to expanded feedtubes and protector assemblies for them, the reader is referred to the Williams U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,373.
The size and shape limitations previously placed on the feedtube were alleviated by utilizing an expanded feedtube as shown and described in Williams U.S. Pat. No. 4,226,373 which maintains safety by providing a feedtube protector in the form of an outer sleeve which carries an actuator cooperating with control means for enabling the machine operation only when the sleeve is properly positioned over the expanded feedtube. This sleeve has associated therewith a movable food pusher captivated in the sleeve and mounted for telescoping movement within the sleeve. When the cover is properly positioned on the bowl and this sleeve is mounted over the expanded feedtube, the food pusher is manually movable within the passageway in the expanded feedtube and the actuator on the sleeve is operatively associated with the control means of the food processor to permit operation of the motor drive. Accordingly, inadvertent insertion of the hand or foreign object into the feedtube is prevented when the rotary tool is being driven. By virtue of this arrangement the feedtube can have a large ("expanded") cross-sectional area so that large food items can be inserted whole into the expanded feedtube, and such expanded cross-sectional shape is usually oval as seen looking at the feedtube in the axial direction. For convenience in processing relatively narrow elongated food items, for example, food items such as carrots, cucumbers, pepperoni, celery etc., a smaller feedtube is formed by a tubular member of circular cross section extending down axially through the inside of the larger captivated oval-shaped food pusher. This smaller circular feedtube has dimensions and proportions fitting snuggly within the oval-shaped pusher. The second smaller passageway requires a separate food pusher which can be operated without removing the outer sleeve from operative engagement with the control means of the food processor. The small food pusher also includes a retainer for holding it locked within the captured larger food pusher so that a complete bottom surface is provided for contacting food which is to be plunged onto the rotary blade when inserted into the larger feedtube. With the circular tubular member running internally through the oval-shaped food pusher a pair of crescent-shaped cavities are defined between them. Each crescent-shaped cavity has a pair of narrow converging cusp regions which are relatively inaccessible near the bottom of the oval-shaped food pusher. In other words, there are four of these inaccessible cusp-regions at the bottom of the oval-shaped food pusher, which are difficult to wash clean either manually or in a dishwasher.